I really don’t want to ignite a firestorm in the comments by posting this, but the degree to which Israel’s leaders see America as in their back pocket is pretty remarkable. When people across the Arab world feel like they will never get a fair shake from America, it is in part because of episodes like this.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations [cease fire] resolution on Gaza that she helped draft, after Mr. Olmert placed a phone call to President Bush. “I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,'” Mr. Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to The Associated Press. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now,'” Mr. Olmert continued. “He got off the podium and spoke to me.” …
Mr. Olmert claimed that once he made his case to Mr. Bush, the president called Ms. Rice and told her to abstain. “She was left pretty embarrassed,” Mr. Olmert said, according to The A.P.
Forget what you think about Israel: no country in the world should have this sort of sway over our president and secretary of state. (H/T Andrew)
